Originally Posted by Thankful Jane
1. I hear you saying that the final result, whatever that looks like (holiness, virtues, abiding, fruit of the Spirit, righteousness), is all Christ Himself expressed, nothing of us, and that if we agree on that, we are basically in agreement.
Lastly, I do not think it is only Christ, as you describe. It is Christ in us. I am not parsing at words. Let me explain. I am important to God. I am in the picture. Lee’s definition of “self” was wrong and resulted in the idea that God did not want anything of us. This is false. The Bible says that Jesus loves me. He made me uniquely and he values my uniqueness. Lee taught otherwise. He called our uniquenesses “peculiarities.”
His teaching regarding the self was misleading and in many cases used by him to manipulate people. He taught us that all God wanted was Christ. Verse please? I see that Christ fills all in all, that He is exalted and glorified, that God wants us to love, serve, and hear Him only, and many other things, but God only wants Christ? I don’t see that in Scripture. If God only wanted Christ, well He had Him already, why did He make anything else, including you and me. The truth is God wanted us, you and me. He wanted us so much that He sent Christ to die for us. The gospel is that God loves me and wants me. Lee’s teaching distorts this truth and produces bad fruit in people who try to deny every fiber of what they are, in order to let there be only Christ. Frankly, this teaching produces mental disturbances and even illnesses.
Another potential mental illness producer is the idea that virtues, good works, etc. are nothing if they are not Christ. Here's why. Who can tell if my patience is me or Christ? Can you? Can I? Who can tell if my kindness, or giving, or longsuffering is Christ? Can you? Can I? How can I be sure if when I love it is Christ and not me? If I believe that it is critical that it be only Christ, then I can find myself monitoring my every behavior wondering if it is me or Him. One day I may end up sitting in a mental institution wondering who it is that is sitting there, me or Him. I know an ex Local Churcher who found a good measure of relief from mental suffering by learning it was okay for them to be kind, do good things, etc. without having to determine who it was that was being “expressed.”
I’m not done, but out of time, for the present. If I I get time, I’d like to say more about what OBW and Igzy have brought out about terminology and Lee’s dismissal of verses that sound like “I” am required to do something.
Thus far, I think you will see from what I’ve written that we’re most likely not in agreement.
Thankful Jane
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